(AFP) news feature

Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat is a man with a mission - to put the fear of God into everyone.

But the spiritual leader of the country's main opposition party also arouses other fears - of Islamic extremism.

A small man with a goatee beard and a ready smile, 70-year-old Nik Abdul Aziz is reviled by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's government as a fanatic.

His son has been detained on suspicion of terrorism.

Neighbouring Singapore has expressed concern over the possibility that his party PAS could come to power and implement its dream of establishing rigid Islamic rule.

But in Kelantan, where as chief minister he presided over his party's 50th anniversary celebrations last weekend, Nik Abdul Aziz is hailed by many as a saint.

"An Islamic state trains the people to fear God, not the police nor the government... it is better to be controlled by God than by immorality," he told AFP in an interview at his official residence in the sleepy state capital of Kota Baru.

"We want to change the people's mindset to know that all our works on earth will be questioned by God in the netherworld.

"God will repay our good works with a place in heaven... but those who do evil will be burnt in hell."

Islamic ways

The turbanned leader of PAS's spiritual council has issued a series of religious decrees in Kelantan since 1990 when his party came into power.

There are separate pay counters for men and women at supermarkets. Unisex hairdressing salons and massage parlours are banned, as are public singing, dancing and gambling.

Roller coaster rides are outlawed, to prevent body contact.

All Muslim women must wear headscarves and are discouraged from wearing lipstick. Less attractive women are given priority for state jobs in the belief that their prettier counterparts have many natural advantages.

If the PAS spiritual chief had his way, the backward rural state would have implemented strict Islamic criminal laws which prescribe extreme penalties such as amputation for thieves and stoning to death for adulterers.

But a state bill introducing the laws, passed in 1993, was vetoed by the federal government.

Nevertheless, PAS's pull remained formidable and it rose to prominence in 1999 general elections when it held Kelantan, captured neighbouring Terengganu and dramatically increased its parliamentary seats.

Political tactics

Nik Abdul Aziz said PAS and its allies in an opposition alliance stood a strong chance of winning the next polls, which must be held by 2004, but charged Mahathir's government was trying to suppress them.

He cited a ban on political rallies and the recent detention without trial of some PAS members including his own son, religious teacher Nik Adli, on suspicion of being part of an Islamic terrorist group.

Nik Adli, held under a security act allowing detention without trial, was a "victim of politics", he said.

"If democracy is adhered to properly, there is no reason why we cannot win but now all the accusations have started (against us): militancy, underground activities and all sorts.

"This is a sort of preparation for the general elections to discredit the opposition."

Nik Abdul Aziz said PAS rejected religious extremism and assured other races they would have nothing to fear under PAS's Islamic rule.

Malays, who are mostly Muslim, make up just over half of the country's 23 million population, while ethnic Chinese account for 25 percent and Indians about seven percent.

Nik Abdul Aziz said it was Mahathir's government whose undemocratic crackdown on dissent had caused public anger to build over time and this "exploded into militancy".

Simple living

The pious lifestyle of the religious leader, popularly known as "Tok Guru", has become a tourist attraction, with visitors often taken to his simple wooden house dwarfed by a mosque and a religious school he built next door.

He refuses to stay in his official residence, and opts instead for his humble house which he painted PAS's official colour, green.

A father of 10 children, the energetic Nik Abdul Aziz starts his days by preaching at a mosque and keeps fit by gardening and occasionally hunting squirrels in the jungle, aides say.

The PAS leader described his nemesis Mahathir as a "very smart man who misused his intelligence for secular needs, and not for Islam".

At only six years younger than Mahathir and already PAS spritual leader for 15 years -- just a little shorter than Mahathir's 20 years as premier -- he said his retirement would depend on his health.

"If I remain strong and Mahathir is still working, I will challenge him. If he quits, maybe I will also retire."